Canadian doctor: Dutch health care system could work in U.S.

Kaiser Health News features an interview with Dr. Robert Ouellet, the immediate past president of the Canadian Medical Association, who "recently participated in a fact-finding mission to five European countries to learn ways to improve the Canadian system. What he found, he said, could also offer lessons for the United States" (Villegas, 9/25).

A related KHN story reports on a recent study examining how U.S. health care compares with that of other nations. "Canada's health care system often figures in the debate about overhauling the U.S. system, mentioned by both critics and supporters. But how does health care in Canada and other countries really stack up when compared with the U.S? Supporters of a health overhaul refer to a 2000 World Health Organization ranking that placed the United States 37th among all countries for health care. (France was number one.) But that report has also been criticized by some analysts for failing to follow a strict, consistent protocol and not adjusting for a wide variety of indicators from the responding countries" (Schiff, 9/25).